There is no shortage of visual marketing tools out there. As the marketplace continues to get more crowded, it’s important to identify which tools will actually help your social media posts stand out.
This post will look at 9 tools anyone can use to create eye-catching social media updates on any budget!
9 Visual Marketing Tools That Help Your Social Posts Stand Out
1. Adobe Spark
If you follow me on social media, you may have wondered how myself and my team creates so many amazing graphics and what visual marketing tools I am using. One of the tools we use to easily create high-quality social graphics and animated videos is Adobe Spark.
They offer three modules that allow you to easily create different types of content: social posts, pages (i.e., web stories) and animated videos.
Adobe Spark is easy to use, comes with a ton of different templates and backgrounds, and best of all…it’s FREE!
2. Canva
If there was one visual marketing tool I couldn’t live without, it would be Canva. For a free tool, it offers unparalleled value and is comparable to many paid tools.
Canva lets you create social media posts for all the major platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and LinkedIn.
There are tons of free images and backgrounds to choose from, so most of the time you’ll be able to find exactly what you need. And if not? Use any of their high-quality, paid images for just $1!
3. Ripl
Talk about visual marketing tools! This one is pretty clever! Ripl is a super-simple app (available on both the App Store and Google Play), that allows you to create custom post designs and animated collages and slideshows.
The basic version is completely free to use, and comes with 8 designs to choose from.
If you want access to their whole library of designs, their add-on service will run you $9.99/month (which is still not a bad deal for all extra features it offers).
The pro version will give you access to their full music, design and font library, give you the ability to schedule your posts, and will allow you to add your logo to your graphics.
4. Wordswag
If all you want to do is quickly create stunning text layouts, it doesn’t get any better than Wordswag.
Wordswag is an app that allows you to caption your photos, create stylish quotes, or make graphics with text overlay. It comes with hundreds of captions to choose from (in case you can’t think of your own), and hundreds of thousands of (free) backgrounds.
Wordswag is available in the App Store for $6.99 and on Google Play for just $4.99.
5. Snappa
Snappa is a graphic creation tool that allows you to easily create social media posts or ads for all the major platforms.
If you’re already familiar with Canva, Snappa will be a…SNAP to use!
Snappa offers a starter version and a pro version. The starter version comes with 5 free downloads each month and lets you add two social media accounts. The pro version offers unlimited templates and downloads, and costs $10/month.
But the best part? Both versions give you complete access to a database of 30,000+ free HD photos and graphics!
6. Piktochart
Infographics can be a great way to display data in an eye-catching, easily sharable way. Piktochart makes it easy to create infographics by simply plugging in your data, customizing the layout and sharing on social media.
Piktochart comes with over 600 templates, and you can easily customize them simply by dragging and dropping. It also comes with a ton of ready-to-use graphics, icons, images and charts.
The free version lets you create unlimited graphics with over 4,000 icons and images. If you want access to their full selection of images and templates, a pro membership starts at just $15 per month.
7. Recite
If you want create a simple, eye-catching image quote in seconds (literally), look no further than Recite.
This is the by far the simplest tool on this list. When you go to the site, you only need to do two things:
- Enter your quote, and
- Choose your template.
It’s that easy!
Don’t have a quote in mind? Recite can help with that too. Click on the ‘Find a Quote’ button, select a topic and then choose from a variety of popular quotes.
8. Pictaculous
If graphic design doesn’t come easy to you, it can be difficult to know which colors go together. This can make it very difficult to create professional-looking graphics, even using the tools outlined in this post.
Pictaculous takes all the guesswork out of the color selection process. Simply upload the image you want to use, and it will spit out the exact color scheme of your photo. It will also suggest additional color palettes you can use…hex codes and all!
9. Pexels
We all know that social media posts that contain images do better in terms of views, clicks and engagement. However, it can be a challenge to continually find cheap or free high-quality images to use.
This is where Pexels comes in. All the images on the site are CC0, meaning they are 100% free, you can use or modify them however you want, and best of all – no attribution is required (which is great, because it’s difficult to give attribution in a social media post!).
Looking for more tips and tricks for creating amazing social media graphics? These posts should help:
My TOP Artsy Tools Plus 31 Places To Find FREE Stock Photos
5 Easy Ways To Sell on Social Media Using Images
7 Visual Content Ideas That Get Shared Like Crazy!
What’s YOUR favorite visual marketing tool? Would love to know! Leave a comment below.
Anuradha Chawla says
February 17, 2017 at 6:16 amHi Kim
I have loved my experience with Canva so far. It’s extremely useful for when you need a quick custom graphic to complement an article or even for “on-the-fly” use in an email campaign.
Kim Garst says
February 17, 2017 at 11:16 amI LOVE Canva 🙂
Gia says
February 18, 2017 at 9:51 amI was using PicMonkey but recently switched to Canva. Their templates are just so much better and I feel like you get way more as a free user. Great list! There’s a few I hadn’t heard of so gonna look into those 🙂
sanket says
February 19, 2017 at 6:16 amI have been using canva since long but I didn’t even know that 8 other tools that you mentioned above were very good and useful thanks for writing abut this tools and updating me and others
Armelle says
February 21, 2017 at 11:46 amHello Kim,
What tool can I find that makes “quotes-videos” like Ripl does, but from my desktop (not from an app… too small for my old eyes ha ha) ?
Thanks 🙂
Kim Garst says
February 21, 2017 at 12:19 pmAdobe Spark is a great tool – it doesn’t animate from the desktop but you can create it and then go to your phone app (iPhone only at this time) and add the animation. Or do like I do and wear the peepers :-).
sourabh rana says
February 22, 2017 at 7:20 amHI Kim,
Till now I have used & using CANVA only to design visuals for my social media, thanks for other helpful tools. I will use for my site.
Look what sourabh rana just posted..5 Women Fashion Accessories for Designer Ethnic wear
Anthony says
February 25, 2017 at 5:11 pmThanks a lot for sharing these nine amazing tools Kim, going to take a look to Canva to begin with. Thanks again!
Yonit Tzuk says
March 8, 2017 at 11:44 amI enjoy some of this tools but my favorite is millioneyez.com tool that helps me to communicate with photographers world wide, they enrich my story by adding there amazing photos.
at Digital Brief says
March 11, 2017 at 10:50 amGreat and simple post you shared. SEO and online marketing has such a mythology about it, but it really is just making a common sense! Thanks for pointing that in your post.
Celine AU says
March 24, 2017 at 3:40 amHi Kim,
Thanks for the beautiful list! The tools really helps social posts stand out. There many new tools introduced to me. I am going to look this tools now. Thanks again!
Jake Carrico says
April 14, 2017 at 10:30 pmHi Kim,
This is an awesome list and excited to try these tools out. What combination of these tools would you recommend for me if I’m trying to find and/or design images for my blog posts (keeping in mind that design is not my strong suit)? I’d love to hear your recommendations!
Thanks,
Jake
Mira Edorra says
October 13, 2017 at 2:22 pmHim Kim,
Amazing post! ????
I am hearing abou Adobe Spark first time from you. Just Sign up in Adobe Spark, This is really amazing!
I am using Canva free tool since 2 years. The Canva tool is a professional i think.
I love some logo design idea/ inspiration constantly here.
Ashu says
November 13, 2017 at 11:41 amThank you very much for sharing with us. I desperately needed this for my site and I luckily came across here.
I think for me Snappa will suite more; going to give it a try.
Abhishek Bhardwaj says
December 5, 2017 at 6:49 amI love to use canva and pictochart both are easy to use coming to others for that thanks for sharing others tools name I will try all tools I also know something about pexels where we can find free images so am I right?
Anna says
December 15, 2017 at 3:14 pmI love Canva.
I wish Ripl had a desktop version.
Md. Hamim Mondal says
September 25, 2018 at 3:16 pmCanva is my favorite tool to create visually appealing images for social media. and Pexels is my favorite copyright free image source. by the way Some of your listed tools are new to me. Thanks for sharing this list.
Harshwardhan says
October 22, 2018 at 8:47 amSnappa and Canva are among my favorites! Must have tools!
Tony Cardenas says
October 26, 2018 at 3:45 pmKim, I have a social media Page with about 11K members. I want to build a webpage so my members can review what’s going on in our City.
I know have members want to post ads.
Restaurants, Beer, Events, Local Small Business Specials etc …. I want it to be news updates and ads that are not on my fb Page. Do you recommend a site?
Site not built!
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